Friday, May 22, 2009

'Most wanted' child trafficker arrested in China

BEIJING, May 22 (Xinhua) -- One of China's most wanted criminals has been arrested after a national search on charges connected with human trafficking, the Ministry of Public Security said here Friday.

Zhang Weizhu, a 35-year-old woman born in southwest Yunnan Province, was allegedly involved in 10 cases of child trafficking in southern Guangdong Province, said a statement on the ministry's website.

She was arrested in Zhuhai, Guangdong on Wednesday, the statement said.

Nine suspects in the same cases were arrested between February and March in Jiangmen and police rescued 11 children kidnapped by them.

Zhang was one of the top 10 most wanted suspects in human trafficking cases listed by the ministry on April 29. Two others were arrested earlier this month.

Chinese police launched a nationwide action against human trafficking of children and women in early April, which will run through this year.

According to the ministry's figures, police rescued 196 children and 214 women and broke up 72 human trafficking rings from April 9 to May 4.

Most of these crimes occurred in Guizhou, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Shandong, Henan and Shanxi Provinces.

Zhang Xinfeng, vice minister of Public Security, said in a statement on May 8 that police at all levels would continue their efforts to deal with human trafficking, an increasing social problem in China that seriously violated human rights.

The ministry also started the compilation of a nationwide DNA database by collecting blood samples from the rescued children and parents who lost their children.